''[[Brothers Island tuatara|Sphenodon guntheri]]''
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The '''tuatara''' is a [[reptile]], the only surviving member of '''Rhynchocephalia''', or '''Sphenodontia'''/'''Sphenodontida''' (for more on this, see classification). TuataraThe aretuatara [[endemic (ecology)|endemic]] to [[New Zealand]], and now live only on a small number of offshore islands. Ithas has been classified as an [[endangered species]] since [[1895]]. Tuatara, like many native
[[New Zealand]] animals, arewere threatened by habitat loss, harvesting, and introduced species such as [[mustelid]]s and [[rat]]s. Tuatara are [[endemic (ecology)|endemic]] to New Zealand, and were long confined to a small number of mammal free offshore islands, until a first mainland release into a heavily fenced and monitored rserve in 2005.